Dining Out For Life
Go out to dinner tonight? Why? Because it is Dining Out For Life where restaurants all around Minnesota are giving a percent of profits to The Aliveness Project. You are going to have dinner anyways right?
Check out the list of restaurants HERE
Because you should.
@mplsgossipgirl
Art in Bloom
Tonight! The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is hosting “flowers after hours” from 6-9PM.
I went last year and had a blast. If I were you, I would park at the Wells Fargo parking garage located at 28th Street and Fourth Avenue South. There is a shuttle that will then bring you to the MIA or Valet Parking is $10.
There is a cash bar and live music.
Because its free!
@mplsgossipgirl
Angel Food- New Bakery from Hells Kitchen
If you haven’t heard yet…. Hell’s Kitchen is opening a new bakery called Angel Food. That will be located above the current restaurant site.
Although, Hell’s Kitchen is a successful restaurant, Angel Food will be a completely separate venture started by the same people. So, to off set costs they are promoting some deals on the KickStarter website: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/angelfoodmn/angel-foodbakers-from-hell
Everything looks delicious. And not only will you get some good deals like for $1,000 a cup of coffee a day for life or for $500 be a baker for a day, you will be helping kick-start a company. How cool is that?
As for me, I am going to get some cupcakes for 10$.
because who can resist a cupcake.
@mplsgossipgirl
My recent restaurant experiences…
After re-reading several of my recent posts about restaurants, I clearly have not been happy with my experience at several of the places I have been.
This is horribly sad for me. I don’t mean to be a crank. But, I figure if I tell the truth and the restaurant reads it maybe they will make some changes. I also want to make diners aware of what kind of experience they could get if they go there. No fake Amazings!!! here. I love food and love to appreciate the food in Minneapolis and surrounding areas. If I say something was AMAZING, I feel that way wholeheartedly.
Most of my rank comments have been about the service and I have been pondering why I have gotten some not so great service these last few weeks. Is it because I am younger than most of the servers, my lack of fashion, or because I do a lot of happy hours? I don’t know what exactly it is. I always tip over 20%.
I should also mention that none of the restaurants know that I write a blog. I try not to be too descriptive in my posts to let them know who I am. That way my experience is not skewed by what they want my experience to be that might be different than a normal customer.
Come on restaurants! I am just like any other person who wants to have a reason to come back again. My wish right now is that I could write more complementary posts about the restaurants to get more patrons in them.
My challenge to you:
I am ready to be redeemed by a restaurant… Please let me know if you know of any restaurants with great service. I will go there and let you know about it.
Macy’s Flower Show
Macy’s in Minneapolis is holding it’s annual flower show March 25th-April 7th during their normal store hours in the 8th Floor Auditorium.
Their theme this year is Brasil and it is going to be colorful one.
During this show there will be many events and demos at Macy’s that you could participate in. I love a good food demo! The two that sounded interesting to me were with The Public House and Samba. The Public House demo will be about desserts and Chef Anelisa Ponpes will be leading the demo on March 28th at 12:00PM. Samba will be hosting Monday, April 2nd at 12:00 PM where you can learn how to cook a Brazilian dish. Both demos are held in the Culinary Kitchen in the lower level.
Find more information on other events and demos HERE. They have over 16 in store events during the show.
because if I can’t afford to go to Brasil at least I can feel like I am there
@mplsgossipgirl
Key’s at the Foshay
Key’s at the Foshay is one of the best kept secrets in Minneapolis. Not only do they serve breakfast all day, they also have amazing desserts.
The best part of this restaurant is their staff. They greet you and remember you from past visits. Ask you how you like items on the menu. Tell you stories. But, most importantly, make you laugh.
Be prepared Key’s you can’t get rid of me now!
Because Key’s knows how to treat a customer and friend
@mplsgossipgirl
Pictures from St. Patrick’s Day in Minneapolis
Here are some photos from my St. Patrick’s Day!
This parade was the worst one that I have ever been to, but all the people in it looked like they were having fun and by fun I mean they were very drunk.
because it was St. Patrick’s Day
@mplsgossipgirl
Happy Hours on St. Patrick’s Day in Minneapolis
Minnesota must have had the “luck of the Irish” this St. Patrick’s Day! 80 degrees and sunny on a Saturday. Although, party buses seemed to be the fad this year, I spent the day hitting up the patios around Minneapolis.
The first place we were going to stop at was Brit’s Pub. Clearly, that was everyone’s idea. I think people might have mistaken Brits pub as an Irish bar. 🙂 They closed their patio at 3, my guess is for the parade.
We then headed to Rock Bottom Brewery. What great deals! They had 2 dollar stouts. We had this great pretzel appetizer that I would get again.
Then off to Crave. Where apparently belligerency was the key to being on the rooftop. It was a beautiful rooftop only be ruined by all the people who had already had too much to drink. Apparently, Jason Matheson of FM107 was there at the same time I was take a listen to the first hour of their show today to hear all about my experience. 🙂 Being cut-off at 4PM by your server is not good.
We got out of there quickly as another group of drunken leprechauns set up behind us and headed to Solera. I had never been there before and was very satisfied with the experience. We got a wonderful spot on the patio and had some great appetizers and some Sangria. My favorite was the lamb croquet’s.
All and all, this was a great St. Patrick’s Day good food and watching the belligerency from afar.
because 80 degrees in March is amazing!
@mplsgossipgirl
Hell’s Kitchen- The Worst Cocktail I have EVER had.
Good thing their tag line is damn good food. Last night I had quite possibly the worst cocktail I have ever had at a restaurant. It was actually worst than most of the stuff I had in college. So, you know it’s bad.
I ordered a Cosmo (raspberry, that was recommended by the person who made my drink). It was $8.50. I am expecting a good drink if I am going to pay that much. Well, Hell’s Kitchen did not deliver.
It was overly sweet and tasted like cough syrup with booze in it. I am not sure if the person who made it was actually a bar tender or if he was just helping out at the bar for that time. I hope for the restaurants sake that he is not a bar tender. They should not let him make any drinks anymore. I literally, not figuratively, could not drink it.
It was actually quite sad. The whole restaurant at 7:00pm was almost empty. I felt bad for the guy preforming because he was the best thing about my experience there. He was good! But, clearly something is going wrong if at 7 on a Thursday you can’t get people in to eat your food and drink your drinks when there is a good performer.
I like Hell’s Kitchen for breakfast. I did write another review about Hell’s Kitchen that was glowing. But, I doubt I will ever go there to get a drink again. I am very glad that I didn’t choose the bar tenders choice drink because I wonder what kind of drink I would have gotten then.
The happy hour menu looks good… so maybe I will give it a try.
Let me know if you have had a drink there and what it was like.
Because booze should taste good.
@mplsgossipgirl
Zelo Happy Hour
One of my favorite Happy Hours in Minneapolis is at Zelo it is called 4-5-6. It’s clever and a great deal.
If you are like me and starving after work it is a great place to stop with a friend and have a 5 dollar drink and a 5 dollar appetizer. The drinks on the menu are worth the 5 dollars that they are. My personal favorites are the Moscow Mule and the Margarita both taste fresh. I have had a few that were not made correctly and told the server that. It was quickly fixed.
The food is also very good. Their pizzas a great and they offer them on this menu too! I love the margarita but that is because I am not a meat-za fan but I have heard that the sausage is yummy as well. The other thing you can’t leave without trying is the Spicy Tuna Crisps. I don’t know how to explain them but I can eat a whole plate in 2 minutes flat.
I actually had a horrible experience there about a week ago when my friend ate an under cooked Turkey Burger. I tasted the second one and it was VERY under cooked. I can’t say that the situation was handled well by the restaurant at first. The server tried to convince me that people say that a lot but that they are cooked. It was not. She asked them to take it away and actually got sick (sorry to whomever cleans the bathrooms). They then wanted to cook it more and bring it back to the table!!! She refused it and said she did not want anything else. The manager also came over to tell us it was in fact under cooked. The only thing that made this situation much better was that the server came to apologize and said it was not his intention to say that it was not under cooked. I appreciated the fact that he did not blame the cook and admitted that he should have handled it differently. I have had this server on many occasions and he even remembers my last name. So, Kudos to him for doing the right thing.
It was very hard for us to even tell the server that we thought it was under cooked. It is hard, at least for me, to complain at a place that I frequent quite often. To say the least, this experience did not get me to stray away because I do really enjoy the food (I don’t think I will ever have another Turkey Burger there) and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun happy hour.
If you go there let me know what you think about it.
Because you always get yourself in trouble when you try to eat healthier
@mplsgossipgirl
mplsgossipgirl 